Beyond (band)
Beyond was a Hong Kong rock band formed in 1983. The band became prominent in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, mainland China, and Overseas Chinese communities. The band is widely considered as the most successful and influential Cantopop band from Hong Kong. In 1993, band frontman and major composer Wong Ka Kui died at the age of 31, after an accident during the filming of a gameshow at Fuji Television in Tokyo. Beyond continued to perform, record, and release music after Wong Ka Kui's death. In 2005, the remaining members Paul Wong, Wong Ka Keung and Yip Sai Wing decided to pursue their own solo careers, and Beyond officially disbanded. They are one of the most-streamed Chinese groups on YouTube.
History
Formation and Early years (1983-1986)
In the early 1980s, lead vocalist Wong Ka Kui and drummer Yip Sai Wing started out as young musicians who were both interested in Pink Floyd's progressive rock. Wong Ka Kui was notably influenced by western styles of rock, and the likes of David Bowie and King Crimson. In 1983, they decided to join a local music contest for "Guitar Magazine" and they decided to form a band with lead guitarist William Tang and bassist Lee Wing Chiu. Tang wished the band's name to convey a feeling of surpassing or going beyond themselves, so the name "Beyond" was chosen. However, the band name was not definite at the time. The band's musical style was still experimental. At this time, Wong Ka Kui and Tai Chi lead guitarist Joey Tang formed a temporary band called NASA band that did an art rock style of music with English pop.In 1984, Wong's younger brother Wong Ka Keung joined the band as a bassist. At the time, the band consisted of Wong Ka Kui, Yip Sai Wing, Wong Ka Keung and new lead guitarist Chan Sze On. Chan soon had to leave for a foreign country, leaving the band without a lead guitarist. In 1985 Paul Wong, the band's designer, joined the band to in his stead.
In the early years, time was difficult for the band. They had to do everything themselves, including organizing finance, selling tickets, and performing and buying their own equipment. The band's first self-financed concert occurred in 1985 at Caritas Centre in Hong Kong. The show was unsuccessful but caught the attention of their first manager. He would help them raise HK$16,000, but the band was soon left with only HK$1000.
In 1986, the band rented a studio to record the album Goodbye My Dreams. Lau Chi Yuen then joined Beyond as lead guitarist and keyboardist. At the time Small Island, Tat Ming Pair and Beyond made a recording together. Small Island was scheduled to attend a July 1986 Pan-Asian Music Festival in Taipei, and Beyond was added to the schedule. Beyond was well-liked and they joined another festival that same year. They would sign with Kinn's Music record company.
Commercial success
2025 - now
1987 - 1991
In 1989, Beyond became the first Hong Kong band to perform in Beijing at the Capital Indoor Stadium. As Beyond's songs were in Cantonese, the performance was not well received by the audience. The stadium had been full at the start of the concert, but only half had remained after the concert had ended. However, they still considered the concert a success. After a couple of flops, Beyond started to gain popularity following the release of the hit song "Great Land". They would soon win their first musical awards, the 1988 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation and 1989 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards.
In 1990, they released one of their signature songs, "Glorious Years", a song about racism and the struggle of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. The song was a huge hit in Hong Kong. The song was from the band's album Party of Fate, which achieved triple platinum. According to a later interview with Wong Ka-Keung, Mandela was "deeply moved" when he heard about the song during his final days in the hospital.
In 1991, Beyond released another critically acclaimed song "Amani" from the album Hesitation. The song was written during Beyond's trip to Tanzania. The song's title means "peace" in Swahili and the song was written about the plight of war-ravaged Africa and the yearning for world peace. Part of the song's lyrics were written in Swahili. The song is still often used by Hong Kong's human rights bands to spread the message of peace.
''Continue the Revolution''
Beyond made their first appearance on Japan's NHK station and immediately signed with record company Amuse and Fun House record label. After their departure from Cinepoly Records to sign with Warner Music, Beyond started to become a more international band, and began to focus more time in Japan and Taiwan. The band would release their eighth studio album, Continue the Revolution on 10 July 1992, achieving commercial and critical success with hit lead rock singles "The Great Wall", "Insufferably Arrogant" and the reggae single "Ji Xu Chen Zui". The band member's life in Japan felt lonely and isolated from their loved ones as it is their first time being away from them for a long period. Their songs during this time also emphasized on homesickness, isolation and emotional struggle. Tracks like "Looking into Distance", "Yan Juan Ji Mo", and "Wen Nuan De Jia Xiang" vividly portray their experience of living and working abroad in Japan.Beyond officially entered the Japanese market on 25 July by releasing their first Japanese-Cantonese bilingual single, "The Wall c/w Only Heaven Knows", following "リゾ・ラバ ～International～ c/w The Morning Train". 2 months after the release of both singles, the band released their first Japanese studio album under their band name. This album is considered to be a multilingual album as it still contains 3 Cantonese tracks ' and 1 Mandarin track '.
At the time, Amuse and Fun House had more control over the band compared to Warner Music, handling the production and release of the album. Music videos, packaging and recording of the album took place in Japan. Both Amuse and Fun House aimed to mirror the success of the Cantonese release with a one-to-one strategy, notable example being the Japanese album "Beyond" corresponded to its Cantonese counterpart, "Continue the Revolution" as a pair. "Beyond" would be a flop due to the language barrier and lack of promotion for it. This made Beyond to focus heavily in Japan, joining variety shows to establish their presence in the market.
Beyond would also start producing their first and only EP under Warner Studio around early November of 1992 titled "Endless Emptiness". The band would release a promotional single, "Dian Jie, Dian Jie" to help promote the EP.
By the end of the year, the band would signed with Rock Records to release the Mandarin version of "Continue the Revolution", "Belief". It will be the last full Mandarin album that Ka Kui participated as vocalist before his untimely death. The album would struggle commercially in Taiwan at the time despite the critical praises it has received over the years.
Beyond would appeared as guest performers on the TVB's variety show "Summer Vacation Fun to the Max". On 11 July, they held the "Salem Rocking Night" concert at the Ocean Park parking lot in Hong Kong and on 11 August, they performed their "Continue the Revolution" concert at the Tsuen Wan Town Hall in Hong Kong.
''Endless Emptiness'' and ''Rock N Roll''
In 1993, after a brief stint in Taiwan promoting their third Mandarin album, ‘’Belief’’, Beyond released their fourth EP after 2 years and a half， "Endless Emptiness". This EP would include 3 tracks, "Endless Emptiness", "Dian Jie Dian Jie" and the Japanese track "The Wall". The lead single under the same title name used to be a demo by Ka Kui under the name "Don't Break My Heart" and was intended to be released as one of the tracks in "Continue the Revolution". The track vividly reflects on the emotional struggles of urban life. Endless Emptiness would become one of Beyond's classic tracks during their four member era and tenure in Japan. The track would later be recorded in Japanese by Ka Kui, featured in the 1995 Japanese compilation album "Far Away 92–95" titled under the demo name.Following the release of "Endless Emptiness", the band began working on their ninth studio album, ‘’Rock N Roll’’. The album emphasizes on the spirit of rock and roll, as well as the strength of music. Amuse gave the band a larger budget and creative freedom on the album. The band even shifted from a small cabin near Mount Fuji to a studio in downtown Tokyo for the album recordings. Most of the lyrics and compositions were done by Wong Ka Kui, and arranged by the band and with the help of Yang Bang-ean. Beyond was satisfied with the album and enjoyed the creative freedom from Amuse throughout the arrangement and recording sessions.
On May 1993, Beyond released their ninth studio album, Rock and Roll. Lead singles of the album included "Father and Mother" ，"Lover" and their signature song "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies". This album would become Wong Ka Kui's last tenure with the band.
Death of Wong Ka Kui
On 24 June 1993, the band appeared at a Tokyo Fuji Television game show If Uchannan-chan is Going to Do It, We Have to Do It! 2=ウッチャンナンチャンのやるならやらねば!. The stage platform was 2.7 to 3m high. Actor Teruyoshi Uchimura and Wong Ka Kui both fell off a broken stage and sustained massive head injuries. Wong was sent to the Tokyo Women's Medical University hospital. He fell into a coma and died 6 days later at aged 31.The death occurred at the prime of the band's career, with the tremendously successful song "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" released around the time. His funeral procession caused traffic in various major streets in Hong Kong to come to a standstill, and many top Hong Kong Cantopop singers of the time attended and paid tribute at the funeral. Criticisms followed that the Japanese were having too many late night shows of this type, and the TV station crews were overworked.
During this period, both the Mandarin and Japanese versions of the album were on halt. The Japanese version, "This is Love 1" was released on 25 July 1993 and was intended to be a double album. However, this plan was changed due to Ka Kui’s death before finishing it. A day after Ka Kui was admitted to the hospital, Fun House released the band's third double A-side Japanese single, featuring two lead tracks "くちびるを奪いたい", the Japanese version of "Wan Quan Di Ai Ba" sung by Ka Kui and Steve, while "遥かなる夢に～Far away～" is the Japanese version of "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" to celebrate the band's tenth anniversary.
The Mandarin version, "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies", same name as the lead single, was released on 9 September 1993. The album was recorded by the remaining members of the band to fulfil Ka Kui’s wish of finishing it. Steve and Paul recorded their respective vocals for "It’s Hard to Express Love" and "Cannot Help", Mandarin versions of "Wan Quan Di Ai Ba" and "Wishful Thinking". Songs that included Ka Kui’s vocals were untouched out of respect for him. Singles from the Cantonese and Japanese version of the album were also added into it.